Panda Cloud Anti-Virus 2.2 | 45.7 MB
Panda Cloud Antivirus is antivirus software by Panda Security; a free and a paid version are available. It is cloud-based in the sense that files are scanned on a remote server without using processing power of the user’s machine. The cloud technology is based on Panda’s Collective Intelligence. It can run constantly, providing protection against viruses and malicious websites but slowing the system to some extent as all such software does, or do a system scan.
Features
Panda Security says it detects viruses, Trojans, worms, spyware, dialers, hacking tools, jokes and security risks.
Panda Cloud Antivirus relies on its “Collective Intelligence” and the cloud for up-to-date information. It normally uses an Internet connection to access up-to-date information; if the Internet cannot be accessed it will use a local cache of “the most common threats in circulation”.
Privacy concerns
Sending files or even checksums of segments of files out to a remote server to be processed is a severe privacy concern. The only guarantee of privacy in this case depends on both the goodwill of the company and security at their end. If Panda’s servers are compromised, either by a criminal who works for them or by a hacker, users’ security is compromised.
However this concern is not only exclusive to cloud-based products. Any antivirus or security product can push out a malicious update by a criminal working at the AV vendor or by a hacker who has compromised the AV update servers.
Reviews
An April 2009 review found Panda Cloud Antivirus 1.0 to be clean, fast, simple, easy to use, and with good detection rates.The same review scored Panda 98.87% in malware detection and 71.4% in malicious URL detection. Its overall score was 85%, a strong protection factor considering it is freeware.
When version 1.0 was released on November 10, 2009, PC Magazine reviewed Panda Cloud Antivirus and gave it an Editor’s Choice Award for Best Free AV.
Tech Radar’s review states “We think that Panda Cloud Antivirus is best viewed as a defense tool rather than a utility for cleaning up a system that’s already riddled with infection.”
Lifehacker’s review states that the antivirus is lightweight, and is a fresh approach to attacking malware. However they did not try to detect real malware (only tracking cookies) in their test.
When Softpedia reviewed the software they said that it had a high overall detection rate, but had trouble listing all the results. Overall they say it is the best in the market for lightweight usage, and is easy to use, with a clean interface. Version 1.4 changes: Toolbar and URL Filtering compatibility with Internet Explorer 9 and Firefox 4
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